I was really excited to read the chapter on group work. However, it didn't offer me the magic formula I was looking for. It did remind me that I always need to be explicit with my students as to why I am asking to do certain activities. I think that is my big lesson for the semester: make the reasons for my teaching decisions clear to my students. I have always been a huge fan of group work as both a student and an instructor, so I kind of forgot that it is not always the preferred method of learning for some. I should say that I enjoy it for in class activities. I am not so much a fan of group work that is done outside of class. There are too many obsticles to work around.
One of the reasons I was excited to read the chapter is because I have had groups that work beautifully--interacting, discussing, really achieving active learning. And I have had groups that totally flop--one student does all of the work and everyone else just coppies, all but one students participates, the group divides into smaller groups, the group is off task the whole time. I was hoping the chapter would give me some insight as to why these things happen. It did, but I was hoping for a magic glowing answer to come jumping out of the book.
The chapter on learning styles definitely added to the chapter on group work. I have a hard time narrowing down what kind of learner/teacher I am. For ever category I respond with "it depends". Again, this chapter reinforces how important it is to teach the same concept through several different techniques in order to reach every student.
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In terms of equal work load in groups one of my professor asked two kind of assigments one is individual and the other is jointly so I think applying this in your case could be a little bit useful.
I've always HATED group work. In high school and as an undergrad I never felt like my groups were achieving the goal. I frequently wound up doing all the work, or stepping back and just contributing a few ideas, but not doing the work. I still am not a huge fan of group work.
That being said, I use a lot of group work in my classroom. I've noticed that many students really like the tasks.
I've found that letting students choose their groups usually keeps them more evenly productive. However, there is always the leftover group...the students who are in the group because their friends aren't in the class.
I guess I'm saying there's no magic formula.
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